Devastation beyond belief

Details

Published: Tuesday, 30 May 2017 18:32

AHMAG have recently conversed with David Osborne the creator of the WalkGPS website. David knows the North Darling Range and its associated walk trails like the back of his hand and he has shared some alarming information about bauxite mining being conducted by Alcoa and BHP (Now South32).

David has recently re-launched “WalkGPS: Bushwalks in the Perth region, Western Australia” and AHMAG were fortunate enough to have been included in the email list for the launch and the May newsletter, which outlines the issues that are being faced by bush walkers and the impacts that bauxite mining is having on the walk trails along the Darling Range and the destruction of the Jarrah Forrest that inhabit the area.

According to David's information there is 400 square kilometers currently being strip mined for bauxite and some 3000 hectares of Jarrah Forrest is being cleared every year.

The shared post below is one of many links contained in that newsletter which takes you to the WalkGPS website, but this one relates to bauxite mining in the Darling Range.

When you click and open the post below there is a time lapse pic of mining in the Darling Range starting at 1987 and goes through to 2016. If you click on the pic and wait a few seconds, you will be horrified as to the extent of the devastation caused by bauxite mining and it is set to accelerate.

Separate to their current and existing operations at the Huntley and Willowdale mines, 2016 saw the unprecedented decision by the Barnett government to grant approval for Alcoa to direct ship bauxite to Chinese refineries. This means the North Darling Scarp will literally be stripped bare.

This type of destruction is a small taste of what we will be faced with if Yankuang ever get approvals to mine here. Farmland, native vegetation, bush land and the neighbouring communities will all be affected.

In other posts we have stated that bauxite mining will creep across the landscape like a cancer. They say a picture paints a thousand words, well the time lapse pics paint a million words and these pics are only of Alcoa's Huntley mine.

If the 1987 - 2016 time lapse pics don’t horrify you, then one can only cringe at the thought of what the next round of pics will look like.

If you care about what you have read, then please share this post with your family and friends.

We would like to thank David Osborne for sharing years of pics and research with our group.

In this petition we ask both Houses of State Parliament to protect the Darling Range from “Bulk Commodity” mining within 100 km from Perth’s C.B.D.

Please complete and sign each sheet only once, get your family and friends to do the same and send the completed sheets back to AHMAG, PO Box 111, Gidgegannup WA 6083.

There are 14 spaces on each sheet, if you are unable to complete each sheet don’t stress, merely send them back to AHMAG and we will have other concerned members of the public complete the sheets, prior to presentation to Parliament.